Not my words.  It’s the headline of a news story, and we know how that often goes.

This headline appears jumbled together with news stories about how dire the nursing shortage is, another about how there are less jobs for nurses at Massachusetts General Hospital but still 400 available (the spokesperson didn’t specify if they would hire new grads or why there are so many jobs open considering the trouble that Boston area nurses are having in finding a job), and some of the usual press release-ish stories about shortages of nursing teachers and if only we can just mass produce nurses everything will be peachy and sweet in healthcare.

Now, the article at hand. This one is a mix and match of quotes and stats, but doesn’t seem to have a direction. In other words, is it talking about a nursing shortage, nurses having trouble finding a job, Obama’s healthcare plan, or what? And some newspapers are wondering why they fail to meet the needs of the public, and why no one with a working brain wants to read them.

From the Daily Pennsylvanian:

If the Obama administration succeeds in extending health care to all U.S. citizens, the system will be under enormous strain, said Nursing professor Matthew McHugh, whose research focuses on nursing workforce policy and the current deficit of nurses in particular.

There “simply won’t be enough” infrastructure to care for the newly insured, he said. “We need to make sure we have a health care workforce that is able to meet the demands of a reformed health care system.”

True, I have to agree. More insured people mean that more wil probably seek medical care. That means more workers needed.

McHugh predicts a shortfall of 300,000 to 800,000 nurses by 2020, but he said, “there hasn’t been significant focus by the administration … on the infrastructure problem of providing a nursing workforce.”

For nursing students, the shortage would seem to be beneficial.

“The nursing shortage makes nursing students at Penn feel more secure,” said Nursing senior Katie Heaberlin.

“The combination of a good school and there being a shortage makes me confident that I’m going to get a job.”

Now these three paragraphs, basically one sentence quotes, tell us nothing. First, the usual quotes about the shortage. But what does he mean that there hasn’t been enough focus on the infastructure problem. Perhaps the article might have concentrated on that one area, and explained it. What should the administration be doing? What should they be focusing on? That might have made a good article.

But no, as usual, it skips over to some silly meaningless comment from a nursing student. Yes, we’re all glad that you feel secure and hope you get a great job. But what has that got to do with an important issue that was just raised.

Now it gets even dumber. We move to student #2, who feels less secure and is worried about a job despite the so-called shortage.

Nursing senior Alexa Nickeson, has found the job market much more challenging in this economy, the shortage notwithstanding. She said hospitals are delaying start dates, and there are fewer positions available this year.

“Research shows a correlation between a higher nurse-to-patient ratio and higher patient mortality,” she said.

Even with the clear benefits of an increased number of nurses, hospitals are still hiring less this year, a number of nursing students said.

So now Alexa says its harder to find a job. Another mixed opportunity–the article could have discussed the difficulty nurses are having in finding a job, despite the dire predictions of a shortage. But it gives no reason why jobs are tighter, what percentage of nurses can’t find jobs, if it is national or just in this state or metro areas, etc.

Instead, they some mumbo jumbo quote about the benefits of smaller nurse to patient ratio, and that this still hasn’t convinced hospitas to hire more nurses. Well, are the hospitals that aren’t hiring working very short staffed? Is the situation dangerous? Are they not hiring because they’re using the economy as an excuse? Are they purposely working short staffed even though they can afford more nurses or at least, temps?

Of course, no info whatsoever. Another lost opportunity.

The last part of the article is something about socialized medicine…I can’t even go there. Is it asking too much for decent reporting, for a news story that has a focus and gives the reader actual information?